Dying Season
by The Last Leaf
Summary: He searched many years for her, but when he found her, he discovered... that she was never there, never waiting for him. Nothing was ever the same anymore.


Disclaimer: I do not own FYGK

The last rays of dying sun dimmed into the distant horizon, blinking uncertainly from the ocean.

They shone through the sheer white curtain, and settled on the little plain old piano in the middle.

The wind blew.

His fingers still lingered on the sliding door, wondered by the unexpected beauty.

His gaze softened, and walked around the rotting instrument. His hands touched the top, and felt the wooden pricks.

His sigh echoed in the empty, long abandoned music room, tugged into an unknown nook in the school.

He wiped the thick layer of gathering dust off with sudden motion, leaving a sudden dark hue mark on the light red seat.

He sat down, and adjusted his position facing the graying keys, ebony and ivory.

His long dark blond hairs caressed the edge of the seat as the invisible breeze blew. He had given up tying it up long ago.

Slender finger tips pressed down on the old keys, and danced on the piano like wind nymphs.

A sorrowful, sorrowful melody flowed through the air, carried away by playful fairies.

His eyes were closed, letting his feeling gushed into the song.

Beautiful gentle notes swirled and entwined with grief.

He was sucked into the music as though he didn't exist on earth anymore. More like a carefree oxygen molecule, drifting into the blue clear sky.

Melting into the piano, his fingers became faster and faster, more and more aggressive like a curse binding him to the song, unable to separate from the damned instrument.

His hands glided from one side to another, pressing harder and harder.

A soft sob broke the spell. His fingers jerked away from the piano, and he sent a startled look at the direction of the sound like a caught fawn.

Breathing heavily with sweat rolling down the side of his face, he allowed himself to scan the girl that disturbed him.

Her fair skinny hand covered her pink lips. Long black hair framed her small face, and curled lightly around her small waist. Her black, black eyes reminded him of calligraphy ink, a faded, faded blackness, glimmered with tears as its light stains trailed down her cheeks.

She was short, at least a head shorter than him, so thin that the wind almost blew her away.

Her hands fell away when she met his cold, indifferent stare. The tips of her lips quivered in an attempt smile.

"Oh, sorry," she glanced down, breaking their eye contact. "I heard some sound, and I was curious. You… you play piano very well. Ha ha…" she smiled at him weakly, "It made me cry."

"Oh." He nodded grimly. He stood up, glanced at her as he passed her. The only sign that betrayed him was his slightly shaking fingers, but that was all.

She looked down, and touched her arms absent-mindedly.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked her suddenly.

"Huh?" her eyes looked at him once more and scanned him up and down. She thought for a moment, then shook her head. Threads of black silk danced in the air.

His fingers lifted up, a fractured movement. He restrained himself.

"I'm sorry, but have we meet before?" she amended, and gazed at him, dripping in apologizing tone.

"…yes… a long time ago," he replied softly. His sage green pupils lingered on her face.

She didn't hear him, "Pardon?"

"Are you happy?" he inquired, and made her blush they way he stared at her.

"Well," she smiled and shrugged, "I guess I am. Why?"

"That's good, that's good," he nodded, and said it in a way that it almost seemed like he wasn't talking to her, completely ignoring her questions.

"I hope you are happy."

"Takiko!" someone called her name outside in the corridor.

"Oh?" she glanced outside and explained to him shyly, "It is my boyfriend."

"I see…" he sighed. "Then I won't bother you anymore…"

"Excuse me?" she didn't catch his words for he spoke them too softly.

"Nothing," he smiled at her. No, it wasn't a smile, more like a grimace.

"What's your name? You must be a new student, right? I have never seen you before," she said conversationally as her eyes dipped outside again, waiting for her boyfriend to appear.

"My name is…" he started slowly.

"Takiko!" a young brunette boy interrupted him as he stopped by Takiko, panting.

"I'm sorry I am late," he gasped as he sprouted some excuse.

"It is ok. I don't mind," she replied understandingly. "Beside I was just talking to…"

But when she looked back where the stranger sat, no one was there.

"To who?" the boy followed Takiko's gaze.

"That's weird, he was just there," she muttered as the curtain swayed to the breeze of spring.

"Who was he?"

"I… I don't know. He… never told me his name."

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"Rimudo-sama?" Soruen found his young master sitting in an ancient oak tree by the apartment they recently rented, watching the beautiful sun set inattentively.

"Yes?" Rimudo didn't remove his eyes from the scenery in front of him or lift his head from his knee.

"How was your first day of school?"

"Fine."

"Did you find her?" Soruen asked, concerned.

"No. she isn't here"

"Are you sure she isn't here?"

"Yes. I can't feel her presence here."

"When do we leave this town?"

"I don't know."

"Are you sure she isn't here?"

"Yes."

_At least, not anymore…_

Soruen was going to ask some more, but he was cut off.

"Do you mind…. if you leave me alone for a while?" Rimudo requested quietly.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, I just want to be alone for a while."

Soruen obeyed and departed from under the tree until his tall figure disappeared among the rows of bushes.

Then Rimudo watched as the flaming ball plunged down gently into the calm blue ocean in the distance, mesmerized by the wonder and loveliness of the strange, unrealistic nature like he did thousands of years ago.

Yet this time with memories so fresh and young and burned on to his mind that it pained him greatly, he felt so lost and lonely, like a old voyager who came back and saw the ruins of his old town, laying in old stones and crumbling civilization, like he have been flying for a long time and finally landed, like something dearly loved and treasured wasn't really there anymore, faded away, really weren't there at all, like watching a golden string that stretched for millions of years between his fingers and finally realized how small and insignificant everything that he once loved really was.

So he just sat and watched until everything went dark.

A/N: This idea just popped out as I was reading FYGK's fanfictions, and I wondered why does Takiko remember Rimudo in every reincarnation fics (not that it is bad, of course). So from that conclusion, I decided to write on that is completely opposite of other reincarntion stories. I wanted a Takiko that has moved on from her past and living happily as a new person, not haunted by old tragedies (I would have renamed her, but it would have made the story much more confusing), and Rimudo... as much as I love him and felt sorry for him, but it is just the ending I designed for him. Rimudo just doesn't seem like the guy who would move on very easily.

Thank you for reading the story and my random talk : )


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